Need Some Help With New NEC 3500A

[NDENT]

My bro just got himself a new nec3500a from newegg today along with some 8x sonic media from shop4tech.Anyway heres the deal.He tried copying a full dvd with nero.nero was saying he burn speed at 12x but the disc took almost 13 minutes.Could this be a media problem or firmware problem ? i told him to run nero infotool to see what the media 1d & see where but nothing should up. it just said N/A.

 

[Stangs55]

Originally posted by: NDENT
My bro just got himself a new nec3500a from newegg today along with some 8x sonic media from shop4tech.Anyway heres the deal.He tried copying a full dvd with nero.nero was saying he burn speed at 12x but the disc took almost 13 minutes.Could this be a media problem or firmware problem ? i told him to run nero infotool to see what the media 1d & see where but nothing should up. it just said N/A.

the NEC 3500a's have a new firmware version out....try upgrading that. And make sure you have the latest nero.

 

[PliotronX]

I don't think firmware is going to help because according to this page, Sonic uses the cruddiest media around. I'm surprised the drive even allowed 8X let alone 12X. 12X is supposed to end up around 7 minutes for 4483Megs (it does on mine). The active OPC in the ND-3500 checks the error rate while it's burning and adjust the speed and laser focus accordingly so that would explain why it's performing more around 4-6X (8X should be around 9 minutes). I would return the media if possible and try some Prodisc R03, RICOHJPN or Ritek G03 discs (these are the best bang for the buck in terms of speed and quality with this drive). The page I linked to has more information for you. HTH

 

[NDENT]

From what i read Sonic media wasnt all that bad.I just ordered 300 thermal ones from shop4tech that im thinking of stopping the order. not sure if i can do that as they already shipped. could just pick up some 8x riteks for like 40 per 100pk.

 

[PliotronX]

That could be true (the page may have not been updated to reflect a change in Sonic's supplier), and it's possible that the drive is stuck in PIO mode which is a common problem for being limited to 4X. In device manager, is the drive in PIO mode? If it won't switch to DMA mode, things to try are moving it to a difference channel/position, update IDE drivers or Windows itself. To make sure that the media is up to par, check the media ID with this nifty utility. Compare the manufacturer ID with the ones on the page in my previous reply to see if it's good. If it looks like good media, I don't know what to recommend other than the firmware upgrade, but I would also try requesting a sample disc from Supermediastore, Rima, or another large media vendor. The media that the ND-3500 seems to like most are RICOHJPN, Taiyo Yuden, and MCC (Mitubishi Chemicals). My drive seems to love Prodisc R03, but some people have reported issues with them, then there are Prodisc S04 which I've read are actually some of the few discs that'll burn reliably at 16X. Hope you can get this sorted :beer:

 

[NDENT]

Had him use the dvd id & the disc are showing up as TYG02 which we all know is one of the best media on the market. Also cant find nothing on switching it to dma mode.

 

[NDENT]

Just installed my Nec 3500 & tried burning something using Verbatim 8x media & the disc failed at 32%. seems like these Necs are real shitty.

 

[jspeicher]

Installed a new NEC 3500AG last week, have burned a 50pk spindle of 4x flawlessly with DVD Decrypter and DVD Shrink. Haven't tried 8x media yet, will update you later.

 

[NDENT]

Got the problem fixed. Had to get it into dma mode & now burning at 12x with np.

 

[bacillus]

Excellent news.